SEAS OUR NEW BATTLE FRONT

IS nowhere sacred?

Gold Coasters hoping to get away from the stresses of daily life by taking to the water over the weekend in jet skis and boats may not have had the relaxing day out they hoped for.

Mixing it with the many responsible boaties taking their families out on the first weekend of summer were a smattering of water hoons.

Worst of all, some of them were high on drugs.

We are all very painfully aware of how methaphetamine addiction – in particular ice – has blighted our city.

An unacceptable amount of time and taxpayer dollars are being chewed up daily as hospitals, police and courts clean up after the chaos the addicts leave in their wake.

Water police – who have been forced to introduce a specialist drugs unit – can now be added to that list.

It speaks volumes of the depth of the problem we are facing that drug users are now a feature at sea as well as on land.

It also suggests the drug problem has become normalised for very many people – in itself, a disturbing development.

The very lifestyle the Gold Coast is famous for is under attack when even the most basic leisure activities face disruption from drugged-up idiots.

Tackling the problem is no easy task. Police and hospital staff do all they can, but like whack-a-mole, once one offender has been dealt with, there is always another ready to fill their place.

There is only one solution – former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s maxim of zero tolerance.

Laws, and courts, must get tougher.

It is a comfort to know that police are on the case of offenders wherever they go – including on the water.

But these sterling efforts need to be backed up with tough punishments.

Only then can the drugs menace be properly controlled.